Needham head coach Dave Wainwright asked his team to play smart, fundamental lacrosse against Weymouth and Foxborough, and while the Rockets did win both of those games, he wasn’t totally satisfied with his team’s effort. But against Milton on Tuesday, Needham played their best lacrosse of the season, as they beat up the Wildcats at , 18-1.
“Yes [it was an all around effort],” Needham head coach Dave Wanwright said with a big smile. “This was the complete game I was looking for and for the first time, [my team after the game] was like, gee, thank you, coach.”
“[Needham] took care of the ball, made the right passes, they drew the slide and finished on all of their opportunities,” Milton head coach Ben Midura said.
Find out what's happening in Needhamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Needham wasted little time after the opening draw, as the Rockets raced down field and watched Mark Riley score his first of two goals, which was followed up by a handful of goals that came off the sticks of Cam O’Leary, Robbie Pisano and Alex Mirageas.
The Rockets continued to tack on more points in the second quarter, but the biggest goal of the game came at 3:49, as Will Stenberg recorded his 100th point of the season when he pushed the ball past Jay Rosenberg, which gave Needham an even more commanding lead prior to halftime.
Find out what's happening in Needhamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“It’s always good to get it off your back,” Stenberg said. “Today, I got that goal, but now it’s just focusing on the playoffs.”
“He’s always aware of where he is on the field, so if he gets into a situation like [today], where he’s going down [onto the turf], he makes the best of every situation,” Wainwright said.
After Stenberg’s goal, Needham tacked on a few more points in the third and fourth quarters to secure their 14th win of the season.
“I've got to give them credit, top to bottom,” Wainwright said. “These guys did everything I wanted them to do. They let in one goal. We had a lot of multiple scores and we had a [few big scores] from Robbie Pisano—he had about eight [goals]—and right now, I think he might have the most goals in a single game for this season.”
Milton’s only goal came in the first quarter from Brooks Gallagher, but afterward, the Wildcats' offense stalled, as they misfired a variety of shots that sailed past the goal posts.
The Rockets will return to action on Thursday, when they travel to Norwood to face the Mustangs. Face-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
